Holocaust in the Soviet Union.

Arad provides the first complete account of his book's subject based upon all available sources, primary and secondary. This alone makes the book a valuable contribution to the scholarly literature. The author not only renders a detailed narrative history but also engages in many of the major historiographical debates among scholars of the Holocaust, making this a valuable introduction to the scholarship on the subject. Arad incorporates many lengthy quotations from primary sources. Often, this is one of the major weaknesses of scholarly writing, sometimes rendering a work tedious and overlong. In this case, however, the quotations from perpetrators, victims, and bystanders remind readers that thousands of real people committed the horrific acts described and millions of others suffered the consequences. No one can come away from Arad's work thinking that those who died were "just statistics." The one weakness in the book is the author's writing style, which is often unidiomatic. For example, he repeatedly uses the word "surrounds" when what he means is "surroundings." This minor flaw, however, does not reduce the value of this important book. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. R. W. Lemmons Jacksonville State University